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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Steve Wohlberg -The Character of God Controversy

Steve Wohlberg

The Character of God Controversy, Part 2

The Character of God Controversy, Part 1

The Character of God Controversy, Part 3

The Character of God Controversy Question and Answer Session

Let's open our Bibles up to Revelation chapter 18.

Oh, you know, I didn't have my, I left it in my satchel, but I'll tell you anyway.

I left an article in there about Paris Hilton.

Not in the habit of reading articles about Paris Hilton.

But anyway, there was an article that just came out, just actually it's world news, just in the last couple of weeks about how someone had broken into her house and stolen $2 million of her jewelry.

And there was a blog on the internet going back and forth saying, well, it was all fake anyway.

I don't know if it was fake or not, but I thought about that.

You know, everybody's thinking about Paris Hilton's jewelry and the jewels that are gone.

And I don't even know if they caught the person by now.

But I just thought about it and I thought, jewels, jewels.

The jewels that we need are in the Bible.

God has jewels that are much more valuable than the jewels of this world.

Revelation 18 verse 1 is a mighty text that Seventh-day Adventists have read and pondered for a long time.

18.1 says, after these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven having great power and the earth was lightened with his glory.

This is a final burst of light and power to the world before the return of Jesus Christ.

And I hope we all want to be a part of that.

This is the time when the Lord wants to pour out His Spirit and send his light and his power upon his people.

These are the days, the days of God's power.

Heavenly Father, you know what's happening in your world and you know your program, And this is the time for your message, the time for your power, the time for the latter rain, the time for the Holy Spirit.

And we pray that we'll be a part of that, that you will prepare our hearts, purify our hearts, and open our hearts to receive your light and your message.

Please, Lord, bless this time that we spend together, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

I think it was last year when we were still living up in our house in Aubury in California before we sold it, My family, little Seth and my wife, we were looking through the window.

I think this was actually right before Abigail was born.

We were looking through the window and we were looking out off into the distance up in the mountains and we saw the storm that was coming.

It was a storm and it was approaching, getting closer and closer.

We could see the lightning flashing and Seth was pretty excited.

There's a storm coming and as it approached, you know, it hit.

And it was nice to be inside and watch everything on the outside until the power went out.

It was very dark up in those hills of Aubury.

It was probably 7 or 7.30 that night and it was just pitch black, couldn't see anything.

And so we all huddled together on the couch and we found a couple of flashlights and turned them on and then we prayed.

We got on our knees and we prayed and little Seth prayed, he's so cute, little prayer, dear Jesus, please turn the lights back on.

And well, after a little while, Seth said, Daddy, it's still dark.

And I said, well, Seth, you have to give Jesus a little bit of time to answer your prayer.

So that night we all slept together in the bed because Seth was scared and so we're all sleeping together in Mommy and Daddy's room.

And during the night, probably I don't know, 1 or 2 in the morning, I heard the heater kick in.

But then I continued sleeping, and then around 6.30 in the morning, Seth got up.

And he said, Daddy, I need the flashlight.

I wanna go play with my Thomas train or something.

And I said, Seth, just switch on the light.

And he just thought, switch on the light, but the power's out.

And it was still dark, so he went over and he switched on the light.

And I still remember it was so just as only a little kid could do.

He just looked at me with his big eyes and he went, whoa, whoa, Jesus answered my prayer.

As I think about that little story, I think the Lord wants to turn the lights on, doesn't he?

And when this verse is fulfilled and the earth is lightened with God's glory, people are just going to be saying, whoa, this is amazing.

This is God's message, God's power, God's light that's going to lighten the whole earth with its glory.

7th day Adventists have been trying to understand more about this light for a long time.

And I've done a lot of homework on this as well.

And I want to read a couple of quotes from Christ Object Lessons and then 1 other 1 from Volume 6 of the Testimonies.

Christ's Optic Lessons, page 415, says, It is the darkness of misapprehension of God that is enshrouding the world.

Men are losing their knowledge of His character.

It has been misunderstood and misinterpreted.

At this time, a message from God is to be proclaimed.

A message illuminating in its influence and saving in its power.

Into the darkness of the world is to be shed the light of His glory, the light of His goodness, His mercy, and His truth." Now a lot of people have read this quotation and they've pondered this and they've read this and they thought, wow, in the end of time, there is going to be a message about God's character that is going to just burst out onto the world.

But I also know that there is a subtle devil out there that would like to misinterpret the message of God's character.

And in fact, this quote says that God's character has been misunderstood and misinterpreted.

So in order for us to understand the message of His character, we need to understand it based upon the Bible.

Now here's another quote that goes right along with it, but it not only talks about the message of His character, but it's another message.

It says, sixth volume of the Testimonies, page 19, says, "...the Lord God of heaven will not send upon the world his judgments for disobedience and transgression until he has sent his watchmen to give the warning.

He will not close up the period of probation until the message shall be more distinctly proclaimed.

The law of God is to be magnified, and I'm going to do that during this last time that we have together.

Its claims must be presented in their true sacred character, so that the people will be brought to decide for or against the truth.

Yet the work will be cut short in righteousness." Now listen to this, it says, "...the message of Christ's righteousness is to sound from 1 end of the earth to the other to prepare the way of the Lord.

This is the glory of God which closes the work of the third angel.

So 1 quotation talks about the message of God's character.

And then the next quotation talks about the message of Christ's righteousness.

The message of Christ's righteousness and the message of God's character go together perfectly.

When you study Revelation 14 and then Revelation 18, Revelation 14, 6 to 12 has the message of the 3 angels.

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Series

Steve Wohlberg -The Character of God Controversy

The Character of God Controversy, Part 3

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

GYC SE 2013: God's Last Message

Christ Our Righteousness - Part 2

55m

The Three Angels' Message

07 The Fourth Angel’s Message

1h

Revelation Made Simple

14. Mark of the Beast Exposed

1h 2m

Transformed to Stand

1h

Jeroboam’s Withered Hand and the Mark of the Beast

53m

Living the Word

1h 12m

Trump, Biden and the Image to the Beast

1h 8m

A Crash Course on Daniel: Lessons from the Past for Living in the Present

When Michael Stands Up

1h

Righteousness by Faith

Righteousness by Faith and the Three Angels Messages

58m

SWYC 2006 Plenary Sessions

The Early Rain

50m

How the Three Angel’s Message Works

55m

When Lady Liberty Lays Down the Torch

49m

Sound Doctrine